How did I get started on this "hobby/lifestyle/obsession"?

How did I get started on this "hobby/lifestyle/obsession"?

I wouldn't have guessed even a few years ago that I would start baking my own breads, or that I would enjoy it. Even though I bought a bread machine many years ago, I rarely used it until recently.

It started off due to Dietary needs, with economic issues added to the mix, no pun intended. I found it almost impossible to find low sodium breads/buns/muffins on the store shelves. It has progressed into prefering the tastes of fresh baked. An added benfit is not having all the chemicals and preservatives in my food. I'm recently more into Buns and English muffins, than bread loafs. They seem to freeze better, and portion sizes are easier to control. I never seem to be able to cut bread slices evenly.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who was surprised they started this hobby/obsession. What are some of your stories?

Mine was out of necessity too. i always bought wholemeal bread, and it ends up disappearing fast. I had some wholewheat flour in the pantry, and it took seconds for me to relaize that: wait! i can do it, no big deal, right? NOT SO.

Searching google images lead me to dmsnyder's bread blog, and on to other TFL members. I browsed TFL, and learned so much, and caught the baking bug.

Now, i own a small electric mill, a couple of baking books, and two sacs full of flour.

I started baking bread because I wanted to learn how to make a better pizza crust. I had a crust recipe I'd used for years, but it was just bland, even though it was an enriched bread. I never understood anything about how bread flavors are developed until I started learning to bake bread. Now I know that I was just not giving it enough of my time and effort. I was basically mixing it up and letting it set no longer than the time it took for my oven to preheat (just barely - 15 mins), then throwing it in and letting oven spring do all the work. I wasn't even kneading it, just mixing until the ingredients were incorporated. Wow, was I ignorant! Now, I'm addicted to homemade bread. I don't even care so much about pizza any more. Wait, that's almost a lie. I love pizza.

I can blame my bike club. I haven't baked for years, but started up again to make cupcakes or cookies for various friends in the club. Our club president is diabetic and I have wrestled with trying to make something "sugar free" that actually tastes and looks good. I also have two other friends with gluten allergies. Same problem there. So, I've been spending a lot of time really trying to understand what is going on in my normal baking to see if I can figure out a better way to approach their dietary restricitons without losing the heart and soul of the product. Really, that is probably just the rationalization I'm using to justify all of the baking. That's ok, though, we all need our rationalizations!

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